V 259. Sougdaia.Inscription of Athanasios (?), X–XVth century C.E.

Monument

Type

Indeterminate. 

Material

Limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.6.0, W.5.0, Th.5.0.

Additional description

Broken on all sides, including the back. 

Place of Origin

Sougdaia. 

Find place

Sudak. 

Find context

Curtain wall XIV, Burial vault 1. 

Find circumstances

1986, excavations of I.A. Baranov, 

Modern location

Sudak, Crimea. 

Institution and inventory

Museum "Sudak Fortress", СК–86/№ 246. 

Autopsy

September 2003. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary, letters lean slightly. Alpha with a loop, wide mu. 

Letterheights (cm)

1.0.

Text

Category

Unknown. 

Date

X–XVth century C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

1. Vinogradov, Dzhanov2004, 420–412, № 12. 

Edition

Ἀθανα[σι---]
ΣΑΝΔΕΜ---

Diplomatic

ΑΘΑΝΑ[..---]
ΣΑΝΔΕΜ---

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><seg part="I">Ἀθανα<supplied reason="lost">σι</supplied></seg><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="2"/><orig>ΣΑΝΔΕΜ</orig><gap reason="illegible" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
   </ab>
   </div>

Translation

Athanas...

 

Commentary

Remaining letters are not sufficient for reconstructing the content of the inscription. We can only suggest that the initial letters of line 1 most likely belong to a name and not to some such word as ἀθάνατος "immortal."

The monument was found during the clearing of the fill of Vault tomb 1, dated to the VIII-IXth centuries. It is possible that the stone fragment with graffito fell in during the construction works in the XIVth century when the barrel vault of the tomb was broken.

 

Images

(cc)© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to theEpiDoc schema.)